Trona football off to best start in a decade

WILDOMAR — A young group of players and a new coach were supposed to make this season a rebuilding year for the Trona football team. Instead the Tornadoes are off to their best start in a decade, remaining unbeaten with a 22-18 win at California Lutheran on Friday night.

WILDOMAR — A young group of players and a new coach were supposed to make this season a rebuilding year for the Trona football team. Instead the Tornadoes are off to their best start in a decade, remaining unbeaten with a 22-18 win at California Lutheran on Friday night.

"We're enjoying it and the whole town is getting behind us," Trona head coach Curtis Boutte said. "With the summer these kids had and the effort and conditioning they put in I'm a little surprised, but I expected good things out of this team. They have put the time in to earn their results."

California Lutheran (0-2) scored on the opening drive of the game to quickly take a 6-0 lead. Trona (3-0) answered on the next drive, tying the game with a Marquis Griffin touchdown.

"It kind of had me a little bit concerned at the beginning because they were a big and aggressive team," Boutte said.

After both teams traded defensive stops, Trona grabbed the lead with a big play early in the second quarter. Quarterback Nathan Ball took the snap and ran 60 yards for a score, and the Tornadoes had a 14-6 lead after a successful two-point conversion.

Trona took that eight-point lead into halftime after a physical first half controlled by both defenses. The Tornadoes had a 22-12 lead after third quarter, answering a Cal Lutheran score with a touchdown run by running back Chris Moreno.

Cal Lutheran cut into Trona's lead with a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, and from there the Tornadoes relied on their defense to close out the narrow victory. The C-Hawks' best chance came when they drove the ball to Trona's 30-yard line before consecutive penalties derailed the possession and forced a punt.

"If they didn't have that hold and false start penalty, it would have been interesting to see what the outcome would have been," Boutte said.

Trona went three-and-out on the next possession, and it appeared the Tornadoes would give the ball to Cal Lutheran with a minute left. On the punt, however, the C-Hawks committed a roughing the kicker penalty that gave the Tornadoes a first down and allowed them to run out the clock.

"It was a pretty crazy game — it was a hostile environment," Boutte said.

Trona's defense made halftime adjustments to stop Cal Lutheran's unbalanced offensive formation that featured a guard to the left of the center and the rest of the players on the right side of the line. Early on, the C-Hawks continuously ran sweeps to the heavily-populated side of the line.

"We made adjustments at halftime to shut their run down and they went to the pass," Boutte said. "We threw some special blitzes in there behind it, because it's not a fast play. While they were flowing forward, we blitzed behind the play and our guy started getting in there and tackling them in the backfield."

Page 2 of 2 - The victory gives Trona its first 3-0 start since 2003, when the team won its first 10 games of the season. In order to continue their undefeated start to the season, the Tornadoes needed to snap a four-game losing streak against Cal Lutheran.

"For the last four years, we were a school that went in there and just got walked on — they just weren't ready for us to come out how we did," Boutte said. "Our players see that they can stand with anybody right now. Cal Lutheran has a huge reputation as a winning program."

The first Southern Section 8-man football rankings of the season were released on Monday, and Trona checked in No. 6 in Division 2. Each of the Tornadoes' wins so far this season have come against Division 1 teams.

"The kids are going to be stoked — our coaching staff will have to keep them level-headed," Boutte said.

Trona has a bye week before returning to action against West Shores on Friday, Sept. 27 at The Pit. Boutte said the open week in the schedule comes at a good time, and will allow the team to heal injuries sustained early in the season.

"We're going to go back to weightlifting and conditioning," Boutte said. "We're not going to hit too much to let them mend. We're definitely going to enjoy the bye week."